AppleWorks Database: A Guide for Island Teachers
Educational Value of Database Programs Databases help students develop a higher level of critical thinking by learning to: • hypothesize, test, and modify hypotheses (questioning skills) • organize and sort information in a way to test a hypothesis (research skills) • discover relationships and trends (analytical skills) • predict • problem solve Stages of Learning with Databases Beverly Hunter (1985) outlines three stages of learning related to database use: Students use prepared databases to: test hypotheses discover relationships identify commonalities look for trends help solve problems organize reports investigate new subjects Students enter information into a prepared template, and then: plan the research identify sources of information gather data check it for accuracy enter the data into the template use the database Students are required to: plan their database design their database build their database use their database The teacher’s role is to provide opportunities for students to use questioning skills, research skills, critical thinking skills, and decision making skills. They should plan activities that require students to arrange, sequence, group, classify, and discriminate data. previous page || page 1 || next page Technology Integration Document P.E.I. Department of Education, 2000 Stage1: Using a database Stage2: Creating a database Stage3: Designing a database AppleWorks Database: A Guide for Island Teachers